Missing
by xCrystalNightx
Summary: "I didn't want to remember, but I was the only one who knew the truth. About me. About The Hunger Games...My name is Maddison McCaine and on the 3rd of June 2010, I was taken." A modern twist on the story of HG. What if it happened in todays world?
1. Prologue

**Hey! This is just something different I decided to try. A sort of a twist on the Hunger Games story. What would it be like if it happened todays world?**

**Here's a quick intro to the story, but I'll be updating soon.**

**Let me know what you think!**

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_Screams in the dark._

It's not what they're looking for. It's not the beginning of the story. But it's what I remember the most.

"Screams in the dark."

My voice is barely a whisper as it escapes my chapped lips, but the man at sitting at the other side of the table leans forward eagerly. He says nothing. Still, I see his frustration in the way he runs his hand through his hair. His eyes flicker to the plain glass window on our right. I know that there are more of them behind it watching...Waiting.

This man doesn't understand. None of them do.

They can't see the pain that courses through me, as pure and concentrated as acid.

I was a normal kid once. I too had those dreams of being famous one day. And now I was. For all the wrong reasons.

I didn't want to remember. I wanted to go on and pretend it never happened.

But it did.

And I was the only one who could tell them the truth. I owed it to the others to grit my teeth and tell the story.

Of me.

Of what really happened.

And of the Hunger Games.

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**Thanks for reading!**

**There wil be a lot more revealed in the next chapter so stay posted!**


	2. Taken

******Hey guys I promised a quick update and here it is. This will explain things a little more but I'm keeping a few secrets to myself for now ;)**

**I want to give a shout out to my great reviewers. I'm happy to see I have a few old friends back and a few new ones too. It means a lot to me! Especially to Myst who always reviews my fics and really helps me out when I'm stuck :D Your pename wont come up properly :/ but you know who you are!**

**On with the story...Let me know what you think!**

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****Chapter One - Maddison**

He was doing it again.

He was looking at her.

Maddison didn't have to turn to feel his eyes boring into her from where he sat two seats to her right. At first it had been quick, shy glances in her direction, but then he gave up all attempts at pretence and stared at her unwaveringly.

She told herself that she shouldn't like him, but she couldn'd deny that his gaze was enough to make her feel weak at the knees. Evan was a new student at Harlington Academy, a scholarship student was her guess. His uniform was scruffy and it was clear that his books weren't exactly first edition.

Still, there was something about him that drew her to him. There was something tempting about his casual scruffiness. But she knew that didn't matter. Her family would never approve.

She tried to focus on the test in front of her, but the words got more and more insignificant. She knew her face was an unfortunate shade of red and the pencil in her hand wobbled dangerously against the page.

Oh I give up, she decided, I don't care about algebra anyway.

Before she could change her mind, she turned her head squarely in Evan's direction.

She thought he would look away when she did, but she was suprised. He didn't look away. The second she caught his gaze, she was hooked. They were brown like his hair and seemed to go on forever. The corner of his lips was quirked up in a quick smile that gave a whole new appearance to his features.

Maddison felt the light blush on her cheeks kick up a notch to blazing red as she followed the heat of his gaze as he studied her.

"Maddison."

He was just so... so...

"Maddison!"

A hand slammed down on her table, demanding her attention and she wrenched her gaze away from Evan to the invading hand. She blinked up at the person who was attached to said hand. Mrs. Greenberg.

Uh oh.

"The test is over, will you please hand me your exam!" she scolded loudly.

Maddison glanced around the room, startled, and realised she was right. The rest of the class had already started packing up to leave, a few of them sniggering in her direction.

"Oh, um, yes, of course," she blushed, and pushed the half-filled sheet in the teachers direction. Looking down at the floor. She joined her classmates in packing up the rest of her things and heading out the door without so much as a glance back in Evan's direction.

She groaned inwardly as she walked out the front door, mentally kicking her self for the public display of embarrassment.

"Hey, Maddie, wait up!"

She heard a voice call from behind her and she felt a warm thrill when she turned and saw Evan.

"Hey," she said in what she hoped was a casual voice. "What's up?" When really, she was jumping inside. Maddie? It had a certain ring to it.

He shrugged his shoulders and gave her that lopsided smile. "I thought I might walk with you seeing as we're both going the same way."

He sounded uncertain and shy, which made her smile even more. "We are?" she asked. "Where do you live?"

"Just down the road," he said vaguely. "I can show you if you like?"

Maddison considered that for a moment. She didn't want to seem too eager, but if it was on the way to her house, why shouldn't she stop in for a look? And this way, she could get to know the mysterious Evan.

"I can't be home too late..." she said doubtfully, but he just smiled.

"Don't worry, I won't keep you," he laughed.

His laugh lit up his face beautifully and she felt herself nodding in agreement. "Okay, sure," she smiled.

He led her almost as far as her own house, which suprised her. He didn't look like he could afford to live in the area. But then they veered off to the left, a string of more normal looking houses ahead of them. That made sense.

"So, why did you move here?" she wondered aloud.

He sighed and looked at the ground as he walked. "My dad," he answered tightly.

"New job?" she said sympathetically.

He didn't answer her for a few minutes and she worried that she had crossed the line but then he looked up at her with sad eyes.

"Something like that," he half-whispered.

Maddison couldn't take the look on his face at that moment. All of a sudden, she didn't care about being too forward, she pulled him into her arms and hugged him tightly.

"I'm sorry, Evan," she whispered in his ear.

He pulled back a little bit untill they were facing each other face to face. Maddison swallowed at his closeness. His eyelashes were so long up close and she could feel his breath on her cheek. He leaned in slowly, bit by bit, and with a jolt, she realised he was going to kiss her.

But just before she closed her eyes and surrendered to him, he smiled and whispered something against her lips.

She thought he'd said, "I'm not"

She pulled away slightly, frowning and caught the expression on his face. He was smiling again, yes, but there was something different about it this time.

Something...strange.

"Evan, I-" she started, but her sentence was cut off by the load roar of an engine. In the blink of an eye, a dark van pulled up behind her and she felt two sets of hands grab her from behind and jerk her roughly into the van.

She didn't even have time to shout for help.

The last thing she saw before the men slammed the door shut was the cruel smile on Evan's face as he watched her go.

"I'm not"

She could see it all flash before her eyes. Not the life she had lived so far. But the one she would never get to live.

The searches wouldn't turn up anything, the photos on the back of the milk cartons would do no good.

Nobody would ever hear the words that ran through her mind next.

My name is Maddison McCaine and on the 3rd of June 2010, I was taken.

And then, she screamed...

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**Still confused? Well then keep reading for more! Thanks for reading, hope you review :)**


	3. Chosen

**Hey guys :) I'm trying to update quickly so you might catch on to what I'm (attempting) to do here lol slow start I know but stick with me and you won't be sorry I promise!**

**Shout out to my precious reviewers. You really keep me going.**

**Anyway, let me know what you think!****

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****Chapter 2 - Ruby**

Ruby blamed herself.

She should have seen it coming.

Her life hadn't exactly been peachy up untill that moment. Her mother had four other kids with a variety of men and a short enough attention span that she didn't bother to look for Ruby when she ran away at the age of sixteen.

Ruby was never an academic kind of girl, but she had street smarts and her looks to fall back on. Long legs, thick, wavy hair and a fake ID landed her a job as a waitress at a strip club a year later.

And that was where they found her.

She had just stepped out into the side alley for a smoke, when a guy about her age appeared out of nowhere. He was good looking enough, she supposed, younger than her usual clients but that wasn't a first.

"Got a light?" he asked.

She eyed him up and down lazily and pursed her lips. "Sorry, I don't do after hours."

He laughed then, a hollow laugh that made her frown and study him closer. Maybe he was older than he looked.

"Are you sure about that?" he said with a cocky smile.

She rolled her eyes and dropped the cigarette to the floor, stamping it out with her six-inch heel. She had another shift ahead of her and figured she could get Teddy, the security, to handle her pest problem if it came down to it.

"Look kid, I've had a long day. Now go run back to mommy and daddy or whatever."

She turned her back on him to head inside.

And there.

There was her mistake.

Never turn your back on the enemy.

The last thing she remembered was a sharp pain at the back of her head. And then darkness.

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When she became aware again a while later, Ruby didn't open her eyes.

She tried to keep her breathing as even as possible, and used her other senses to assess the situation.

It was bad.

She was slumped on a chair, her arms pulled tight and tied behind her. She knew enough to realise that the dizziness and the occasional swoop of her stomach was not just from being knocked out.

She had been drugged.

And there were other people in the room. Men's voices that became more and more distinguishable as she paid attention.

"What the hell? You were supposed to deliver her in perfect condition!" The man sounded middle-aged and very angry.

"She is. Practically. It's just a little bump on the head. No big deal." Ruby recognised that voice immediately as the boy from the alley. Her stomach churned in anger.

"No big deal! I specifically requested her with no 'bumps' as you call them. How is she going to compete like this?"

Fear slammed into her at the sound of those words and she prayed that they couldn't hear the deafening sound of her heart thumping in her chest.

"Look, she wasn't as easy to outsmart as the others, okay? Don't worry about it, she'll be up and fighting in no time." The boy sounded as cocky as ever to Ruby.

"If you expect full payment..." The mans voice trailed off.

There was a long silence and Ruby itched to open her eyes and see what was happening. The hairs on the back of her neck stood up in the tension of the terrifying wait.

"If you want someone else to do your dirty work, you have to pay the price," the boy spoke quietly. Dangerously.

There was another silence, short this time, and then a grunt of acceptance. She heard a quick shuffle of materials and papers, and assumed the money was being exchanged. Then a door opened and closed again.

Ruby wasn't sure if both of them had left, or if it was just the boy, but still she didn't dare open her eyes. She sat still for what felt like an hour, but in reality was probably no more than a few minutes. A movemet to her right almost caused her to flinch, but she stopped herself just in time.

Footsteps.

Slowly moving towards where she sat.

Another silence.

And then the feeling of a warm breath on her face. A rough hand grabbed her by the chin and held her face up. She fought to remain calm on the outside, even though every impulse told her to jump up and fight back.

A chuckle.

"You were worth every penny," the voice said.

And then the hand dropped her again, and the footsteps left the room.

Alone at last, Ruby could hear nothing except for the sound of her breath and the quick thump of her heart.

_Compete?_ She kept wondering. _Compete for what?_

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**Thanks for reading and I hope you liked it enough to review!**


	4. Waiting

**Heelllooo everyone :) Update tonight as promised! And you should be proud, coz I was at a festival all weekend and now am extremely hungover (Sorry for typos) But you're only young once! :P any Eminem or Muse fans out there? **

**Just a quick filler before the start of the games.**

**Hope you like it. R & R please x**

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**Chapter 3 - Toby**

At first, Toby thought it was some kind of revenge.

Being an underground fighter didn't exactly get you on anyones christmas card list. But it paid. Man, did it pay.

Still, there were always those people to watch out for. A disgruntled better, a defeated opponent etc etc... And when Toby was taken, he assumed it was one of those sort out for some quick cash.

But now, he knew.

He should have guessed right away. They jumped him as he was walking back from the gym one night and four large men pulled him into a van. Four. That told him something.

They had been watching him.

Any less muscle and he would have gotten away without a scratch. But clearly they had done their homework, and there he sat, in a small, four walled room that felt like a god damn prison cell.

His arms were pulled behind him and tied so tight that the rope bit into his skin and a his mouth was duct taped shut. His feet were also bound to the legs of the chair that he sat on. An extra precautionary measure, they called it.

Toby had heard tidbits of information while he waited for them to get around to him, but he still wasn't any closer to guessing what was going on.

_"...good contender..."_

_"...pushing it a bit with the age limit..."_

_"...under eighteen still, so he's eligible... strong..."_

Eligible? Toby was due to turn eighteen in a two weeks, but he didn't know what this meant to them.

There was one consistent man who seemed to be in charge. He was middle-aged and balding, and brought a variety of other men and sometimes women to the room. They studied him carefully, for what he didn't know. Sometimes, they gave the man in charge an affirmative nod and money was exchanged.

Toby couldn't be sure, but it almost seemed as if they were... _betting_ on him...

He wasn't blindfolded, and he noticed that they didn't wear masks, which told him that he wasn't going to be allowed to leave this alive.

Well, they had better be ready for a fight.

He sat in the chair for what felt like days, but he had no way of telling how much time had passed. He was taken on the occasional bathroom break and given a bland meal of bread and water twice a day. He tried shouting at the men while his mouth was free, but that just landed him a blow in the stomach and a fresh piece of duct tape.

Once, the man in charge visited him alone. He set up a camcorder on a tripod in front of him and switched it one. Then he leaned over and pulled off the tape and sat there looking at him.

"What is this?" Toby spat in the mans direction. "Who are you? WHAT do you want from me, HUH?"

He struggled in his anger to break free from the bindings but it did no use.

"What are you waiting for? Get on with it" He stared the man dead in the eye.

Never show fear.

The man smirked slightly but still sat there saying nothing. This angered Toby more than anything and he struggled even harder to break loose, his vision blurred red and the veins in his neck stood out.

"I'll kill you if I ever get out of this," he told the man with certainty. "I'LL KILL YOU!"

The man smiled. "Perfect."

And with that, he switched off the camera and headed to the door. He paused just before he opened it and turned back to look at him.

"Oh, and don't worry," he smirked. "You don't have much longer to wait. It begins tomorrow."

With that, he swung the door opened and swaggered away, as freely as innocence, humming a tune to himself.

Toby was perplexed, but glad he lived to see another day, even if it was in that stupid box of a room.

If it "all" began tomorrow, he vowed he would be ready.

And he wasn't known to fight fair.

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**Thanks again for reading and I hope you liked it enough to review!**

**Any fav characters yet? Who would you like to win ?**


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